Saturday, April 25, 2009

The tide appears to be turning, the last few weeks has brought us more states legalizing and considering same-sex marriage. We now have four states (Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, and Iowa) with legal marriage equality. Many other states are considering marriage, civil unions, and domestic partnerships legislation.

Some states have added gender identity/expression to their hate crimes legislation, and many more states are considering these proposals which have passed in house and senate committees.

Celebrities like Britney Spears, Miley Cyrus, and Heidi Montag among others have come out in support of gay rights, and while they hold no power, they do hold fame and media influence.

Republicans like Steve Schmidt, Christine Whitman, and Meghan McCain have been outspoken in support of marriage equality. Other republicans and conservatives are urging the party to focus on issues that matter, and not stand in the way of gay rights which they see as inevitable reality.

What do you make of the sudden slew of victories? Is this a result of the democratic majority? Is society really ready for LGBT people? Do economic troubles make it easier for queer legislation to pass? Whatever the reason, the tide appears to be turning, and this is good.

Many people do accept that everyone deserves equal rights; others maybe don't really care about LGBT issues, yet will vote for more liberal policies just because they feel the conservatives have screwed things up way too much in recent years. The recent victories may be because of a combination of factors, but even if the LGBT movement is just riding on the coattails of the shifting political climate, I say take advantage of it!

MrADD you are very right, I should have clarified that I had the USA in mind when writing it, and it is definitely a Western thing. There are many countries where people can still be killed based on sexual orientation, gender identity.